Many different types of sliding doors are known. Such doors are very commonly supported by an overhead track and roller system, and can also have a guiding track underneath. The bottom track usually runs the length of the path of the door, and constrains undesired lateral movement of the door.
Pocket doors are sliding doors in which at least a portion of the door is withdrawn into an enclosure. Such doors are well-known in residential housing and offices, and have also been used in boats where a swinging door is undesirable, and space is at a premium. Pocket doors are usually straight, but it is known to use curved pocket doors in corner cabinets, furniture and the like.
A transom is a transverse panel forming the aft end of a boat's hull. Transoms commonly extend up above the boat's deck by a meter or more, and often have an opening through which a person can enter or exit the boat. Such openings can be blocked off with a solid door, chain, or other deterrent, but the known devices for accomplishing that function are sometimes undesirable. Regular swinging doors, for example, require adequate space for movement. And, when swung open unexpectedly, such doors can injure a person standing in its way.
Known pocket doors could theoretically be used for a boat transom, or in some other external positions on a boat, but they would not work properly. For one thing known pocket doors are usually hung from above, and therefore require some sort of stabilizing track running the length of the path of the door. But a track crossing the opening of a boat transom would be undesirable because it would be unsightly, it would tend to fill with water and other debris, and it could even comprise a danger because it could catch clothing or other objects. Problems are exacerbated for boats having a door in a curved transom. Such doors would have to be curved as well, which would be especially hard to implement without a track running across the opening.
It should be possible to support a pocket door without using a bottom track running the length of the path of the door. But one of ordinary skill in the art would reject the idea of using a pocket door in a boat because, unlike the usual housing, cabinet or furniture implementations, there will almost certainly be very significant lateral forces placed upon the boat door from time to time. Without the underlying track, the door would very likely be pushed side to side, out from its intended path.
Thus, there is still a need for a boat with a transom having an exterior portion, which includes a pocket door that opens to provide a passageway large enough for a person to pass.